As the sky darkened, the jeep slowly came to a stop at the hospital entrance. The doors shut softly, and two men stepped out—one in white, one in blue.
Cheng Jingchuan climbed the steps. The light fell across his crisp military uniform, the crease in his trousers sharp as if carved by a blade. Beneath the fabric, the tight lines of muscle were faintly visible.
“Jingchuan, wait for me.” Shen Chuang hurried after him, tugging at his police uniform as he climbed the stairs. “I still haven’t properly thanked you for yesterday.”
Yesterday, after punching the battalion commander’s son, Shen Chuang had been detained by his superiors and thoroughly scolded. They said that as a police officer, breaking the law himself meant he had to be punished. If his brother hadn’t come to bail him out, he would probably have been sitting on the cold bench until nightfall.
A slight frown crossed Cheng Jingchuan’s face. “Li Peng acting up again?”
“Hah, who else would know that bastard better than you?” Shen Chuang sneered. “He was harassing a young girl at the skating rink in North City Park. I just happened to run into it.”
Li Peng had been a spoiled rich kid since childhood. Whenever he saw a pretty girl, he lost all sense. The two of them had beaten him up more than once before.
“What punishment did the bureau give you?”
“What else? A demerit.” Shen Chuang shrugged carelessly. “I’ve got enough of those already—one more doesn’t matter. But I heard this time things got serious. Battalion Commander Li got shipped off to the northwest, and Li Peng was sent back to his hometown. Your family’s doing, right?”
There was reason for Shen Chuang to think that.
Although Old Master Cheng had stepped down from the front lines, with the Cheng family’s influence, cleaning out one rotten rat from the compound would be effortless.
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Cheng Jingchuan took another step up the stairs, his deep eyes sweeping across the lobby as a nurse approached them.
“You’re here to visit Chief Feng, right?” The nurse had been waiting at the entrance after receiving instructions. The hospital director hadn’t described the visitors, only said one of them would be a PLA officer.
That had to be the man in front of her.
Cheng Jingchuan nodded. “Sorry to trouble you, comrade. Please lead the way.”
“You’re too polite, Regiment Commander Cheng. This way.” The nurse smiled and guided them toward the stairwell.
Shen Chuang stepped closer and asked worriedly, “Is Uncle Feng’s condition serious?”
“Not sure.” Cheng Jingchuan truly didn’t know. He had only received the hospital’s call shortly before coming over.
As they spoke, they arrived outside the VIP ward.
Inside came Political Commissar Feng’s weak but still booming voice. Though frail, his tone remained as fierce as ever.
“I’m telling you, Old Cai, if you didn’t manage to kill me on the battlefield back then, are you trying to finish the job in the hospital now? Let me tell you, my life was dragged back from the gates of hell by two comrades with great difficulty. Don’t ruin it now!”
Lying flat on the bed, Commissar Feng groaned dramatically. “Who keeps this… this heart-monitor thing attached all the time?”
“It’s called an ECG monitor,” Dean Cai said while attaching the device to his chest. “It monitors heart rate… forget it, you wouldn’t understand anyway. Just know this—it’s imported equipment. The only one in the whole hospital. Costs tens of thousands. Very precious. If you break it, we’ll need state funding for another one.”
Hearing that, Commissar Feng stopped moving immediately and lay stiff as a salted fish while the nurses fussed over him.
“You really are lucky to be alive,” Dean Cai sighed as he looked at his old rival lying in the bed. “If those silver needles had gone in even two or three minutes later, I’d be visiting your grave.”
The acute myocardial infarction had caused rapid pericardial fluid accumulation, impairing the heart’s pumping function. The onset was sudden and violent, demanding a race against time.
When Commissar Feng had been rushed into emergency care, Dean Cai had seen the situation in the lobby and immediately opened an emergency surgical pathway without hesitation.
“If those silver needles hadn’t shut the gates of hell for you, there wouldn’t even have been time for surgery!”
“Exactly.” Commissar Feng sighed emotionally. “To be honest, I’d already seen the old commander waiting for me.”
He paused, smiling faintly.
“My life wasn’t meant to end yet. That little girl dragged me back by force.”
Little girl?
The usually calm Dean Cai frowned sharply, his tone suddenly urgent. “What little girl?”
“The one who saved me.” Feng tried to recall her appearance. “Couldn’t have been twenty yet. Truly, the younger generation is terrifying.”
“What? Impossible!” Dean Cai became agitated. “Anyone capable of such needle techniques would have to be at least fifty, maybe seventy or eighty! That level of skill only comes from decades of practice. There’s no way she’s only twenty!”
“Hey! Why won’t you believe me?” Feng Bao snapped. “I may be old, but I can still tell whether my savior was a young comrade or an old granny!”
“Uncle Feng.” Cheng Jingchuan interrupted as he handed the fruit basket to the nurse.
The nurse placed it on the bedside cabinet and tied back the curtains.
Commissar Feng tried to sit up, but the moment he moved, fresh blood seeped from the incision on his chest. Dean Cai hurriedly shoved him back down.
“I just saved your damn life and you’re already trying to waste it again?”
“Oh come on, Old Cai, you’re exaggerating.” Feng Bao grimaced. “Back on the battlefield, I’ve had bullet holes bigger than this.”
Still, he obediently lay back down, though sweat had already formed on his forehead.
“Rest properly first.” Cheng Jingchuan took the chair the nurse handed him and pulled the blanket higher. Seeing Feng Bao’s tightly furrowed brows, he understood the man was worried about military affairs. If not for this illness, tomorrow should have been the day they returned to Baisha Island.
Feng Bao sighed. “When you’re young, you don’t notice it. But now I understand what it means for sickness to strike like a collapsing mountain.”
“Uncle Feng,” Shen Chuang greeted from behind.
“The Shen family boy.” Feng deliberately put on a stern face. “I heard you beat up Battalion Commander Li’s son?”
“That bastard was harassing a young girl!” Shen Chuang said dismissively, expecting criticism. Since Feng was still a patient, he decided he’d take the scolding without arguing.
“Well done!” Feng Bao burst into laughter. “Trash like that in the compound deserves discipline! Shame you didn’t join the military.”
Shen Chuang grinned. “Uncle Feng, I’m doing fine now. Really.”
Feng Bao shook his head. How could he not know Shen Chuang’s dream since childhood had been to become a soldier like his father and protect the people?
Then he turned to Cheng Jingchuan.
“With me laid up like this, who knows how many days it’ll delay us. After we return to the island, don’t let Director Jiang find out about this.”
He and Director Jiang were a revolutionary couple. Ever since his heart problems were diagnosed, she had been constantly worried.
“The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. The military hospital can’t function without her. If she hears about this, she’ll only worry herself sick.”
As a soldier—especially one who had seen war—Feng Bao wasn’t afraid of death.
At death’s door, seeing the old commander and fallen comrades waiting for him had genuinely thrilled him.
The only thing he couldn’t bear to leave behind was his wife.
Still, he had to admit: the girl who saved him was incredible.
If he had a choice, he’d rather die on the battlefield killing enemies. Being slowly tortured to death by illness felt humiliating.
That girl had preserved his dignity.
“Shen boy,” Feng Bao said after a moment, “aren’t you with the Public Security Bureau? Find a way to track down this Comrade Jiang. No—she must be found.”
Hearing that, Dean Cai immediately cut in, eyes lighting up.
“And you’d better notify me too. A talent like that can’t be wasted outside.”
Faced with the eager looks from both elders, Shen Chuang nodded.
“Alright. There are only so many hospitals in North City. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
Relieved, Feng Bao leaned back comfortably and started teasing Dean Cai again.
“I’m telling you, Old Cai, your thinking is too narrow. Who says an outside hospital can’t be better than yours?”
They all knew that with Jiang Lilu’s skill, there was no way she wasn’t already working in a hospital somewhere.
“You know nothing.” Dean Cai’s face darkened. “When it comes to cardiology, we’re the authority. Someone who can close the gates of hell with a few needles—letting that kind of talent stay outside would be a waste.”
“Fine, fine. Your hospital’s the best.” Feng Bao suddenly changed the subject. “Old Cai.”
“What now?” Dean Cai shot him an annoyed look.
Feng Bao grinned. “Those banners hanging in your office wall—where’d you get them made?”
“What are you planning?”
“I was thinking, the two young comrades who saved me today embodied the spirit of Lei Feng. That deserves recognition! Since you’ve got a whole wall of banners, I should at least send one to each of them.”
Dean Cai: …
“Find them first before talking nonsense,” Dean Cai muttered while spraying alcohol into his hands and rubbing them together.
Once he found her, would Feng Bao even get the chance to give banners? No matter what incentives he had to offer, he’d trick her into joining the hospital staff.
Seeing Old Cai preparing to leave, Commissar Feng struggled up and grabbed his white coat.
“Old Cai, that’s not very loyal of you. Did I say you could leave?”
“And another thing—this attack happened because I walked too much just to come to your hospital. So when I return to the island, you’re assigning me two doctors to escort and care for me. Otherwise I’m afraid I’ll die on the road.”
Dean Cai: …
Did he hear himself?
After finishing in the restroom, Yang Zaohua came out and relaxed when she saw Jiang Li hadn’t run away.
“Xiao Zhou, how was it? This little brat didn’t give you any trouble, did she?”
Zhou Xueming’s face was dark and grim.
He had underestimated the Jiang family’s youngest daughter. He’d assumed that someone driven to attempted suicide would be easy to manipulate. Who knew she’d end up turning the tables on him instead?
Jiang Li kindly reminded him, “Minister Zhou, did I cause you any trouble?”
“No… none at all.” Whenever Zhou Xueming met Jiang Li’s eyes now, he thought of the leverage she held over him and felt a chill.
“Well, that’s good. Then I’m relieved.” Yang Zaohua felt delighted at the thought that her precious grandson might become deputy minister someday. As the saying went, sesame flowers bloom higher and higher—today deputy minister, tomorrow bureau chief.
As long as they held Zhou Xueming in their grasp, the future looked bright.
“Jiang Li, listen carefully.” Yang Zaohua grabbed Jiang Li’s arm tightly as she praised the Zhou family to the skies, pinching her hard while speaking. “You must marry into the Zhou family.”
Jiang Li pulled her hand away. “The Zhou family is really that good?”
“Good! Absolutely good!” Yang Zaohua declared firmly.
Jiang Li looked toward Zhou Xueming, who was sulking darkly.
“Minister Zhou, did you hear that? My grandmother thinks your family is wonderful.”
Zhou Xueming’s face turned nearly black with resentment, but he forced out a hum of agreement.
“Good. Then in a few days we’ll go register the marriage!” Yang Zaohua declared decisively.
“Sure. Grandma, you’ll have to come with us to register the marriage certificate.”
Yang Zaohua narrowed her eyes suspiciously, repeatedly sizing Jiang Li up. This girl, who used to oppose her at every turn, suddenly seemed like a different person.
Was she still planning to run?
Yang Zaohua immediately grabbed Jiang Li’s arm again.
“I’ll go. I absolutely will. I’m personally watching you two register that marriage.”
With a loud thud, Zhou Xueming’s expression finally turned pitch black.
“That’s enough!”
Startled by the shout, Yang Zaohua stumbled backward two steps.
“Xiao Zhou, what’s wrong with you?”
Zhou Xueming took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to strangle the old woman.
“Nothing. We’re at the compound.”
The moment the three stepped inside, they saw a crowd gathered outside the Jiang family home.
A shrill scream nearly pierced Jiang Li’s eardrums.
“Jiang Xiaoxiao, you black-hearted bitch! What exactly did you feed our Dajun?! He kept vomiting until he started coughing up blood! If anything happens to Dajun, I’ll make you pay with your life!”